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Martin
McGuinness has called on those who carried out or
supported the type of actions that led to the death
of David Caldwell to stop ‘skulking’ behind
the names of anti-agreement republican bodies and
stand up and be counted. Interestingly, however, he
described those republicans who oppose the Good Friday
Agreement but who do not support armed struggle as
having ‘quite a legitimate point of view’.
On this point he would sound authentic if his own
party would desist from picketing the homes of those
who speak out against killings on our streets and
would also refrain from despatching the thought police
to the same homes in a bid to intimidate critics who
call for public community inquiries into such killings.
The
32 County Sovereignty Movement, much opposed to the
pickets staged by Martin McGuinness’s party against
independent Provisional republicans who neither skulked
nor supported armed struggle but who raised their
heads above the parapet to speak out against the October
2000 murder of Real IRA volunteer Joe O’Connor,
have swerved wildly in their own lane. On Monday evening
of last week the group assembled a crowd of 50 people
at the home of Denis Bradley, the vice chairperson
of the policing board. He was not at home but his
daughter was. Like Sinn Fein of two years ago in Ballymurphy
the absence of the prime target of their wrath was
no deterrent to continuing with intimidation.
The
protest at the home of Denis Bradley came shortly
after RUC members had raided and damaged homes of
a number of local republicans in the wake of the killing
of David Caldwell a civilian who had picked up a
booby trapped lunch box. According to one member of
the 32 County Sovereignty Movement ‘the RUC over
a three day period booted doors in and wrecked houses,
yet Denis Bradley never spoke out against it.’
When
asked the following morning by Jarlath Toner of the
32 County Sovereignty Movement how I felt about the
picket on Bradley’s home my response was curt:
‘exactly as I felt when Sinn Fein picketed my
own home after I had spoken out about the murder of
one of your own people.’ Toner responded by claiming
that Bradley was calling for a shoot to kill policy
against republicans, underlining that call with examples
of the manner in which de Valera had dealt with republicans.
He dismissed any comparison between the Derry picket
and that on my home, arguing that Sinn Fein were trying
to intimidate me out of the estate whereas his movement
was merely making a protest against what he alleged
was Denis Bradley’s call for a shoot to kill
policy against physical force republicans opposed
to the Good Friday Agreement. We agreed to differ,
seeing as there was no meeting of minds.
The
following Saturday when I again met Jarlath Toner
as he attended a white line picket on the Falls Road
in support of republican prisoners, we resumed our
discussion of the issue. When challenged about the
intimidatory nature of the protest he responded:
We
have a genuine right to fear that any hint suggesting
that physical force be used against people of our
persuasion would lead to a situation in which people
could be subjected to physical force and shoot to
kill. If you recall the Panorama programme some
days before the death of Joe O’Connor, it helped
create an atmosphere which minimised a public outcry
at his killing. So naturally we are alert to comments
like that of Denis Bradley. I have no reason to
believe that he was not testing the waters. Our
action was a protest, not intimidation.
When
asked for his attitude toward the same right of protection
from physical force being afforded to people like
David Caldwell, he stated that it was a different
issue but needed debating and wider discussion all
the same. We agreed to pursue that matter at some
point in the future.
Having
missed the radio interview in which Denis Bradley
allegedly advocated shooting republicans, I turned
to someone who had heard the comments. Seamus Doherty
from Derry was attending the same protest in support
of republican prisoners. He claimed that Bradley had
stated that it was necessary for republicans to confront
republicans and that such a point was coming soon.
‘The whole gist of his interview was that republicans
should confront physical force republicans militarily.’
Doherty conceded, however, that Denis Bradley made
it clear that he was personally not arguing for any
such thing. Doherty, like Jarlath Toner, felt that
the picket on the Bradley home was not an act in intimidation.
There
was no threat, no menace. It was just a protest.
No doors were kicked in. There were no armed men
running about his house. Nor were his neighbours
confined to their homes during the protest.
Nowhere,
in the comments by either Jarlath Toner or Seamus
Doherty in relation to Denis Bradley could I find
anything that would remotely lend to a belief that
the latter had advocated a shoot to kill policy. I
felt that, like Sinn Fein who organised the picket
on my home, they had inferred a meaning from the comments
of the person they opposed which had no congruence
with what he had actually said. It was a meaning that
they alone could see.
When
I contacted Denis Bradley and invited him to comment
on this he was emphatic that at no point had he advocated
shoot-to-kill. He stated that in the past republicans
such as de Valera had resorted to harsh methods and
that such a situation is what people should be striving
to avert.
A
community should never be denied the option of house
picketing when employed against those intent on destroying
the community and violating human rights if all else
has failed. But picketing homes of political critics
based on dubious interpretation of public commentary
is nothing short of political intimidation. If people
have a grievance against Denis Bradley because of
his views or position on the policing board then they
should challenge him to a public debate or shift the
site of any protest to PSNI premises. The offices
of officialdom, and not family homes, helps define
the distinction between radical protest and bullish
political threats.
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